In which our hero gets physical, and says goodbye.
After the conference we always have a thank-you party. Not just the Student Volunteers are there, but also the Chairs, the SIGCHI Committee people, and all other people who have put effort into the conference. This year it was held in the Denver Athletic Club, next to the conference center. It was a four story building, and it'll probably cost a fortune to get a membership card for it. We got to use the gym, a ballroom and a bowling alley.We didn't really feel like yet another party in yet another ballroom, so we decided to check out the gym. We had already been talking about volleyball with several SV's during the conference, and when we noticed a net all set up we went down quickly. It sounds incredible, but we had enough energy left to play volleyball for a while. Or maybe it was just the post-conference stress which fueled our play. At any rate we had a lot of fun playing several games. After a while several non-SV's also joined in. See, they aren't all stuffy. (Later we learned that most people who weren't playing volleyball were actually dancing in the ballroom, so I guess everybody got plenty of exercise.)
Apart from volleyball we had also talked about a Jacuzzi, which apparently had been a great hit at the latest CSCW conference. We didn't find one, but we did discover a sauna. That would get our tired and over-worked bodies in shape as well.
I went to the sauna with Mark, Mike and Birgitte. It was great, and we really felt relaxed after a while. Unfortunately it stopped working after a while, so we had to get out of it.
After that we went to the party to drink som drinks and talk some talks. At around 1:00 am we pretty much had to leave. You know, house lights coming up, music stopping, all the signs were there. But before we could leave we had to say goodbye many times. I never like saying goodbye, so I won't get into the sad details (in fact, there really aren't any anyway, but I did get you curious for a second, no?)
So did we go to the hotel to sleep? No, we had to "party on, dude". We were pretty much hunting down one of the few bars which closed at 2:00 am, and we actually made it there in time. We ordered double drinks, and chatted a bit more about nothing much. After 2:00 am we were removed from the bar (this seems to be usual after Thank You party's, 'cause the same things happened in Boston as well). End of Day.